Democratic Alliance making the right noises for Cape Town Business April 21, 2011

Posted by warwicksworld in Uncategorized.
add a comment

What a surprise it was to hear Patricia de Lille come on air and talk about re-invigorating the Cape Town business environment – in a post-DA-won-municipal election of course…
In spite of being cut short by Cape Talk/Radio 702 because of time constraints – (De Lille was only able to get through 4 of the ’7 Pillars’ that make up the DA’s business growth strategy) – I was sufficiently impressed by what she was saying to want to find out what else was being planned.

A few emails and calls to the DA later – and I got the full plan which I have attached to my summary article that appears on bizassist.co.za. I was particularly excited to learn that the fibre optic backbone (which will help all businesses) – the review of outdated and restrictive legislation and bylaws and the setting up of one super development agency and more business incubators -are all well past the planning process and will be rolled out immediately after the elections -assuming a DA win for Cape Town.

I have my own questions for the DA and P de Lille and will submit them to her next week.

If you have specific questions that relate to ‘Cape Town’s Business Strategy’ let me know and I will gladly include it in mine.
I will report back as soon as I have a reply from the DA.

To view the DA’s full plan from my summary article on BizAssist please click -> here

When Loyalty Cards Become Average – Pick ‘n Pay’s Smart Shopper Card Proves It April 11, 2011

Posted by warwicksworld in Uncategorized.
2 comments

As published in today’s Business Report in The Cape Times.

Pick n Pay’s incentive scheme- So much money for so little.

The recent press coverage that the launch of the Pick n Pay loyalty program received and subsequent letters and replies in Business Report requires further analysis.  R140m later and a decade after first considering a loyalty program and with an acknowledgement by the CEO of Pick n Pay that customers are no longer so loyal, the Smart Shopper card has been launched.

Perhaps some that R140m should have been spent on researching an interactive relationship between Pick n Pay and its customers?

Maybe that’s because for most consumers there is hardly a relationship. We pick the items most attractive to us, we pay, we walk out – and that’s it; the contract is over. As for a relationship the mere fact that we pick you for our next purchase is not something you can control one hundred percent – and loyalty cards can help with that but not when they are clearly just incentive-based programs.

Loyalty cards mean many things to many people.  Marketing executives see them as a route to greater revenue generation and thus probably a necessary evil , customers view it as a way to receive benefits that would otherwise have been unobtainable and everyone agrees that there are too many of them around and to a large extent they all look and feel the same.

The Pick n Pay incentive scheme is definitely not a loyalty scheme.  Here are my reasons.

1) My shopping experience hasn’t improved since the program started. For me to value the ‘benefits’ of accumulating points the total shopping experience needs to be considered and it needs to be above my expectation.

2) My ‘loyalty’ is only worth something if I have my Smart Shopper card with me, failing which I won’t receive any points.  My driver’s license, credit and gym membership cards take preference in my wallet. I have ‘wallet fatigue’, along with every other South-African.  Thereafter it’s a tossup between an assortment of ‘loyalty’ and other cards. And, since when is carrying a card a prerequisite for demonstrating loyalty? Rather give me a barcode sticker that I can put on the back of my cell-phone. That would be different because nobody else offers that option.

3) The relationship is not equal. I have to carry a card all the time and Pick n Pay has access to all my purchase data and what do I get for it?  A mere 1% cash back!

4) There is no ‘wow’ factor at all.  Smart Shopper is not that smart and it feels just like any of the other incentive-come-loyalty programs out there.

It’s 2011 and Pick n Pay needs to realize that they are no longer a ‘Challenger Brand’. Even with a remarkable CSI (corporate social investment) program Pick ‘n Pay has been squeezed by new ‘Challenger Brands’ in the market. Perhaps the real CSI has been missing (Customer Service Initiative or Customer Savings Incentive)?  In a world of ‘Me’ ,’ I’ and   ‘ I want it now’ the Smart Shopper concept represents an amazing opportunity to break from the staleness of other companies’ loyalty programs, and thus the concept may have presented Pick n Pay with an ideal opportunity to pursue their own unique ‘loyalty’ program?   After all, R140m is a lot of money; but put simply, loyalty is built up over a period of time by continuously providing excellent service or benefits, above what is expected or offered by the competition. What was the result? Loads of media coverage and a 1% cash back offer.  Clearly a traditional approach-but not much of an answer to the problem of declining market share; aggravated by less ‘loyalty’ from customers in general.

Smart Shopper could have wowed me but it hasn’t even come close. The technology is available and inexpensive, infinitely scalable and offers amazing potential considering that just about everyone carries a computer (cell phone) with them 24/7. Location based marketing, augmented reality, in store Blue Tooth communications and Mobile SMS vouchers, and sms communications are the way forward.

Here are some examples of how Pick ‘n Pay could ‘wow’ me, and thus retain my loyalty:

Send me an sms voucher for coffee at one of your stores that have in-house coffee shops – just because it’s lunchtime and I’ve just spent R500.  I would be impressed!  How about a thank you by SMS for detecting that I have exceeded my average monthly purchase by 100%?

Ask me if  I want to join an experiential purchase plan- maybe a trip to the 2016 Olympics or even a ticket to a show, or a breakfast  for two  at the Mount Nelson hotel.  Now that would get me going!

Let me know that if I spend a bit more, I’d move up a tier and get more. That would make me feel special.

Tell me by you will reserve red roses for me on Valentine’s Day so that I can avoid stressing about availability and rip-off prices. I would be eternally grateful.

Solve a problem that most of us have from time to time, by removing the need to have to produce a receipt for my defective product – because my Smart Shopper card has all the sales information linked to. Whilst on the subject of defective items in for repair, sms me a web-enabled email link so that I can track the progress of the repair online 24/7. That would save me from stressful on-hold waits with your call centre and save you money.

There is one product that I know of that has an intrinsic cost of 8% of the R80 selling price and it really irritates me every time I buy it. If I could get that information to you easily, that would let me believe I was making a difference-but you haven’t asked for my help or feedback –ever.  If you did that, you would ensure my loyalty.  I would then write on my Facebook page and other social media sites, about how wonderful Pick n Pay is.  I’d tell my friends and work colleagues and you would have my unquestioned loyalty.

Previously published articles have alluded to the UK’s Tesco and other South African companies as benchmarks which Pick n Pay has researched and have tried to emulate. In the process all they have done is add to the ‘loyalty card’ fatigue and not added any differentiation at all. Benchmarking, by its very own definition, is not designed to exceed what is known. In fact, by emulating it, you have just confirmed what average is – and average is no way to get noticed or remembered by your customers.

Traditional loyalty card programs have come full circle, and opportunities exist now for loyalty marketers to reinvigorate their markets. That in itself is tough because traditional marketers are used to ‘top down’ marketing. Engaging and listening does not come easily for non-CRM (Customer Relationship Marketing) trained staff.

Pick n Pay was one of the last majors to launch a loyalty program. It had my attention briefly but it offers nothing new. Excellence, innovation and leading the way has always been a feature of Pick N Pays public persona. That I am afraid has long since disappeared.  Your incentive program is much like an attempt by a learner at school- desperate to be noticed.  I can distinctly hear the desperate pleas of ‘Pick me, Pick me’.

See this an other articles on our website, www.bizassist.co.za

Hello world! March 3, 2011

Posted by warwicksworld in Uncategorized.
2 comments

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!